


Royal Blood

by Poyomon2



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, mentions of Yusaku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 04:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15380598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poyomon2/pseuds/Poyomon2
Summary: All Ema wanted was to steal a priceless treasure. She didn't expect to get caught up in some sort of magical war.





	Royal Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Now that I've written it, feels more like a prologue? Which wouldn't be too wrong, I guess, but I don't think I'll be writing more for it for the moment.
> 
> Late submission for VRAINS week day 12.

Ema stole through the halls of the mansion, lamenting at the massive size of it. It was hard enough to get inside the place, but it was basically a maze! Mentally mapping the layout of the building, she kept quiet and unseen as she tediously searched for the room containing the item she was looking for.

A movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and her head snapped to look in its direction, narrowing her eyes. A guard? No, it was someone else. A teen with blue and pink hair stared directly at her from down the hall, and she flinched at his gaze, before recognising him.

Nobody knew his identity, even throughout the entire thieves network. However, he was quickly gaining notoriety, having consecutively brought in multiple highly valuable treasures and making a tidy profit. It was to a great enough scale that there were people saying he was going to be the next king of thieves.

How he did it was a mystery. Almost every item he’d stolen had been reported missing with almost no traces of having had the object’s residence entered. But he brought in results, and that’s all they cared about in their society.

She blinked as his figure shimmered, before moving on down another hallway. Ema increased her pace in response. It was entirely possible that he was there for the same treasure she was after. She couldn’t let him get to it first.

Finding some stairs and ascending to the next floor of the mansion, she unconsciously shivered, then blinked in confusion. Why was it so cold? It had been warm on the lower floor, and the sudden shift in temperature caught her by surprise.

It was almost unnatural. She continued through the halls as the temperature slowly dropped further, and she began to see frost covering some of the surfaces. There was no way this was normal, so she raised her guard in preparation for… whatever it was.

An ornate door caught her attention as she stepped into a expansive room, and she immediately made her way towards it. It was possible that the item she was looking for was inside.

A blast of cold air hit her as she entered through the door, but she pushed on, finally laying eyes on the ornate crown that was set with a large, perfectly round gem that gleamed with six different colours. The gem was of incalculable value, which was why she had set her eyes on retrieving the crown from this place.

Unfortunately, there was someone else in the room with her. She stared at the girl standing behind the pedestal the crown was resting on. She thought she knew who it was.

“So, you’re Aoi Zaizen, then? SOL Order’s so-called ‘Holy Maiden’.”

The girl shrugged, a grimace on her face at the words. “Something like that, I suppose.” She gestured at the crown, throwing a questioning look at Ema. “You're here for the crown, I suppose?”

Ema lowered her stance, ready to move at any moment. “What if I am?”

“You can have it.”

She faltered in confusion, and the girl continued.

“But if you take it, you have to bring me away with you.”

Ema blinked, staring at Aoi. “What do you mean?”

“How much do you know about this crown?”

Ema shook her head. “I did some research, but the only real information that I could find was that it's several centuries old, yet still in perfect condition.”

Aoi hummed. “So you don't know about the legend, then. I’ll tell you, then. According to the legend, a long time ago, there were six royal families who fought over this crown, each seeking to seize it for themselves. Supposedly, each of these six families had a special ability, unique to their family and something that ordinary people could never possess. Using these abilities, they waged a long war, which ended with them mutually destroying each other and forcing them all into hiding.”

“Why were they after the crown?” Ema was somewhat intrigued. It seemed there was more to the crown than she had first thought.

“The crown is said to be able to amplify the power of a true inheritor of each family's bloodline, causing the strength of their ability to increase several times over. However, after the war, the crown was lost and knowledge of these events was slowly forgotten by the world.”

“But it's just a legend, right? Surely it's not true.”

Aoi shook her head, frowning. “Unfortunately, it is. SOL knows this, so they spread out the information revealing that they had the crown in order to try and lure in a true inheritor.”

She waved her hand, and spheres of ice appeared in the air before her, causing Ema to gasp.

“You're one of them?”

“No, I’m not a true inheritor. My Bloodline of the Ocean isn't strong enough, and I can barely get a reaction out of the crown when I touch it. I’m just a pawn for them. If they can find a true inheritor, they want me to marry them in order to rope them in to their side.”

“Surely your brother wouldn't stand for that, right? Even if he is a part of SOL.”

Tears formed at the corners of Aoi’s eyes. “At first, he refused, but SOL slowly poisoned his mind, and now he believes wholeheartedly in the plan. I love him dearly, but if the crown is taken, SOL will no longer have a use for me, and I don't think he will be able, or, at this point, willing, to stop them from disposing of me in that case.”

“But, why are they so desperate to find a true inheritor?” Ema's voice cut through the air, asking the most important question, despite her mind being in turmoil.

“Their main enemy, the Knights of Hanoi, seem to have the true inheritor of the Bloodline of the Tempest working with them, so they're being slowly beaten back despite their best efforts.” Aoi shook her head. “Enough of this. Please, take me with you when you take the crown.”

Ema breathed slowly, her gaze moving back and forth between Aoi and the crown.

The gem in the crown suddenly flashed purple, releasing an intense light that forced the two to cover their eyes. As it faded, her vision came back into focus and she stared at the boy from earlier, who had appeared literally out of nowhere.

Aoi gaped at him. “This light… A true inheritor?”

The boy blinked, looking at them. All of a sudden, black smoke billowed from his body, filling the room and obscuring their visions. Ema felt an object fall into her hands, and when the smoke cleared, she looked down to find herself holding the crown that she had come for. For a moment, she was dismayed as the crown didn't react to her touch at all, but then her head snapped up, searching the room. The boy was gone. “I think he may have overheard our conversation,” Then she laughed, finally breaking as the whole situation caught up to her. “And I think you were just rejected.”

Aoi's hands clenched into fists. “He doesn't even know me! Sure, I don't want to be forced into a marriage either, but that was completely uncalled for!” She walked up to Ema, scowling. “We need to go now, regardless! There's no way that went unnoticed, so there will be people here any moment! If they find out that I let a true inheritor get away…”

She didn't need to finish her sentence. Ema grabbed her hand, flinching at the ice cold touch, and pulled her along as they ran.

Shouts began to fill the mansion, but as much as she wanted to just leave as fast as possible, Ema knew that panicking now and rushing would be the worst plan. At a brisk pace, she retraced her steps, avoiding the guards as they went.

There were a few close calls, but they managed to escape unharmed, and she finally released Aoi’s hand, turning to face her. “What are you going to do now?”

Aoi pondered angrily for a moment. “I still want to find that boy and give him a piece of my mind, but I won't burden you by hanging around and forcing you to provide for me. We should separate here.”

Ema hummed. “That boy. He's part of the thieves network, but nobody knows who he is. I have a lot of pull, so I could try setting up a meeting for you.”

Aoi shook her head. “I’ll figure something out myself. Keep the crown, I suppose. I don't want to see it anymore. Thank you for bringing me out of there.” She turned to walk away, but then stopped as she remembered something. “You might want to lay low for a while, and possibly get as far away as possible from anything that SOL can influence.”

Ema’s heart dropped, suddenly feeling very unsafe. “May I ask why?”

“They have a person who has a small amount of the Bloodline of the Sun. They might be able to use divination to find out your identity and location.”

As the girl walked away, Ema was stuck, her mind racing as she despaired. Why did she get caught up in all this? All she wanted to do was make a living for herself.

She stared at the crown in her hand. She needed to get rid of this thing as soon as possible.


End file.
